{"id":574058,"date":"2026-05-09T03:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/574058\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T03:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:27:12","slug":"keir-starmer-under-pressure-to-agree-exit-plan-after-election-mauling-keir-starmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/574058\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer under pressure to agree exit plan after election mauling | Keir Starmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keir Starmer is under pressure to set out a timeline for his departure after a crushing defeat in elections across Britain prompted senior Labour MPs to call for him to step down within a year.<\/p>\n

In a disastrous set of results, Labour<\/a> had lost control of more than 25 councils and more than 1,000 council seats in England by Friday night, many to Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK, which made large gains across the Midlands and the north as well as taking seats from the Tories in the south.<\/p>\n

After more than a century of domination, Labour has faced near-wipeout in Wales, where the party\u2019s first minister, Eluned Morgan, lost her seat. Labour could slump to third place in Scotland behind the SNP and Reform. In London, a Green surge meant Labour lost control of councils it had dominated, including Hackney and Waltham Forest.<\/p>\n

While the prime minister appeared to have avoided an immediate coup, there was a furious response to the results among senior MPs and the unions, with some warning him to change course or risk electoral oblivion. By Friday evening, 10 more MPs had called for him to set out a timetable for departure from No 10.<\/p>\n

Louise Haigh, a former cabinet minister and co-chair of the powerful Tribune group of MPs, was the first to break cover. \u201cWhat is abundantly clear is that unless the government delivers significant and urgent change, then the prime minister cannot lead us into another election,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

One senior backbencher said: \u201cWe want Keir to agree a timetable for his departure, but we want it to be dignified. He should have his last conference this autumn and then oversee a leadership contest straight after. He can\u2019t take us into next year\u2019s locals. It\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Starmer insisted that he \u201cwon\u2019t walk away\u201d from the leadership as doing so would \u201cplunge the party into chaos\u201d, although he acknowledged that voters were fed up with the slow pace of change.<\/p>\n

\"KeirKeir Starmer says he will not resign despite ‘tough’ local election losses \u2013 video<\/p>\n

The prime minister would deliver a major speech next week in which he would seek to set out a more optimistic vision of the country\u2019s future, Downing Street sources said.<\/p>\n

The king\u2019s speech on Wednesday will also include policy announcements, though a cabinet reshuffle is not expected.<\/p>\n

On a tumultuous day:<\/p>\n

Farage said a \u201ctruly historic shift in British politics\u201d had occurred after Reform UK won hundreds of seats and control of more councils in England. The gains included Essex where the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, has her constituency and which the Conservatives held for 25 years.<\/p>\n

Plaid Cymru became the largest party in Wales<\/a>, beating Reform into second place, after Labour admitted it was on course to lose control of the Senedd for the first time since devolution. Morgan, the first woman to lead the Welsh government, became the highest-profile casualty and called on Labour to \u201cgo back to being the party of the working class\u201d.<\/p>\n

The SNP leader, John Swinney, declared victory<\/a> in the Holyrood elections \u2013 though was expected to fall short of an outright majority. The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, conceded defeat saying his party had failed to counter \u201cnational dissatisfaction\u201d with Starmer.<\/p>\n

The Greens gained their first two directly elected mayors \u2013 in Hackney<\/a> and Lewisham \u2013 although they missed out on some more ambitious targets in London, as their leader, Zack Polanski, declared Britain\u2019s two-party politics \u201cdead and buried\u201d. They also won three councils: Norwich, Hastings and Waltham Forest.<\/p>\n

The Tories were on course to lose hundreds of seats \u2013 both to Reform and the Liberal Democrats \u2013 across the south of England. However, they won back the flagship Westminster council in central London, with Badenoch announcing it meant the party was \u201ccoming back\u201d.<\/p>\n

Labour appeared to be struggling in its London stronghold, despite early indications that its vote was holding up, unexpectedly losing control of Brent. Party insiders were closely watching councils including Lambeth, Lewisham and Haringey.<\/p>\n

But Labour\u2019s vote has held up in Wes Streeting\u2019s Redbridge, which allies said put paid to the idea that he was set to lose his Ilford North seat.<\/p>\n

Despite Labour\u2019s losses, allies of Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham, two of Starmer\u2019s potential leadership rivals, said they would keep their counsel and watch how events developed over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Wes Streeting was expected to speak to the media after his local council results. But they all appeared to have put any plans for a coup on hold.<\/p>\n

As results were declared across the country, several other senior Labour MPs \u2013 many thought to be supporters of Burnham who usually refrained from openly criticising the prime minister \u2013 went public with their warnings.<\/p>\n

Sarah Owen, the chair of the women and equalities committee, said: \u201cUnless Keir Starmer delivers tangible change and truly connects with the public on a human level, he can\u2019t lead us into another election \u2013 locally or nationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WhatWhat next for Labour as Reform wins big in elections? – The Latest<\/p>\n

Anneliese Midgley, the MP for Knowsley, said: \u201cThe results here and across the north are beyond our worst expectations. It\u2019s truly devastating. Unless that changes significantly and quickly it\u2019s clear the PM can\u2019t lead us into another election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon Opher, the MP for Stroud, added: \u201cThe public has spoken; I think we need to change our leader. It\u2019s not if now, it\u2019s when. Keir is a decent guy but I think he\u2019s not the right leader for the next election. If we go into the next election with him we will just get slaughtered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several frontbenchers told the Guardian they agreed the prime minister\u2019s time in office should not go beyond the end of the year. \u201cI think it\u2019s clear if he\u2019s still in place by the autumn then efforts to remove him should step up,\u201d said one.<\/p>\n

Cabinet ministers and Labour grandees rallied around Starmer as more backbenchers called for him to go.<\/p>\n

The housing secretary, Steve Reed, said: \u201cThe British public don\u2019t want to hear about timelines, backroom deals and navel-gazing. Let\u2019s get on with the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The business secretary, Peter Kyle, added: \u201cReversing these results requires a collective effort, not just blaming the boss. We can\u2019t do that by turning in on ourselves. We do it by rebuilding faith in Labour\u2019s ability to inspire and lead our country. Losing our PM is the very opposite of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will be relief in Downing Street that some of Starmer\u2019s most powerful critics did not directly call for him to quit. The Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, issued a warning that Starmer must \u201cchange or die\u201d but Labour\u2019s trade union liaison group issued a statement that \u2013 although critical \u2013 called for a change of direction and not explicitly a leadership change.<\/p>\n

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, issued a grave warning that Labour could face the same terminal decline in the capital as it had faced in Scotland, though he did not call for Starmer to resign.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabour has lost votes in London to a variety of different parties, but the biggest change has been Labour voters switching to the Greens,\u201d Khan said. \u201cWithout a change in course and an acceleration in delivery, the threat to Labour is existential. We risk a repeat in London, Wales and across England of what happened in Scotland, where we have still not recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several cabinet ministers have acknowledged privately that even with Starmer\u2019s determination to stay in Downing Street after the election results, the mood on the backbenches is febrile and events could yet spiral out of control over the weekend.<\/p>\n

They also admitted that \u2013 while they would discourage any move against Starmer now \u2013 they did not expect him to lead the party into the next election.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen your personal brand is so poor, it is seldom retrievable,\u201d one told the Guardian earlier this week.<\/p>\n

But Labour MPs who have urged Starmer to move to the left in response to losing votes to the Greens \u2013 which in many areas then led to Reform taking seats \u2013 were set to be disappointed.<\/p>\n

Writing in the Guardian<\/a>, the prime minister said: \u201cWhile we must respond to the message that voters have sent us, that doesn\u2019t mean tacking right or left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer also faced trouble in his own back yard, as Richard Olszewski, the Labour leader of Camden council, was one of three councillors who lost Holborn and Covent Garden ward to the Greens. He had switched from a seat in the north of the borough at risk from Lib Dems because this one was \u2013 supposedly \u2013 safer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer is under pressure to set out a timeline for his departure after a crushing defeat in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-574058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}